California

The Guy and I needed to obtain a copy of a document recorded in San Diego County. We could have requested it online, but the turnaround time stated on the county website for documents to be mailed is “several weeks”, a timeframe as impractical as it is ambiguous. So we decided to throw the dogs in the car and take a quick roadtrip; drive down Sunday, visit the recorder’s office Monday morning, spend the rest of the day enjoying a bit of San Diego, and drive home Tuesday.

The basics, from not watering your lawn and flower garden to wearing your clothes more than once before laundering and, to put it delicately, letting things mellow, are no longer sufficient to keep California running.

(And before you say “well I don’t live there, so it doesn’t matter to me” allow me to point out that yes, it very much does matter to you. The California Central Valley, on less than 1% of the nation’s farmland, produces 8% of the nation’s agricultural output. And 90% of the nation’s avocados. So if you ever want to see your guacamole again, you’ll help us out.)